SPOILERS are ahead for Netflix’s He’s All That along with 1999’s She’s All That.
Who’s all that? Twenty-two years ago, it was “she” in Rachael Leigh Cook’s Laney Boggs after Freddie Prinze Jr’s Zack Silar takes a dumb high school bet and ends up falling for an unexpected classmate. And these days, it’s “he,” Tanner Buchanan’s Cameron after meeting Addison Rae’s Padgett and her viral sensibilities and finding balance between obsessing over the like button and enjoying their young lives. Between the decades the coming of age experience may have changed, but there’s a lot of familiarity here between the two movies She’s All That and Netflix hit, He’s All That.
He’s All That brings a new twist on the 1999 classic, but it also brings some fun nostalgia and callbacks to the original movie too. Let’s break down all the times it references She’s All That:
Rachael Leigh Cook As Padgett’s Mom
First off, Laney Boggs from She’s All That is totally in He’s All That… kind of. The actress who played the leading character in the original movie, Rachael Leigh Cook, plays the mother of Addison Rae’s Padgett throughout the movie. Her character is named Anna Sawyer and she’s a hard-working nurse who is just watching out for her daughter and trying to be there for her as she goes viral in the wrong way.
Cook’s character seems to be mirroring the role that Kevin Pollak played for Laney Boggs during She’s All That. He was also a single parent, who comes to support Laney when Zack comes into her life and shifts her perspective on life. It’s great to see this wink, wink.
There’s An Eventful Pool Party Scene
In He’s All That, Padgett and Cameron really start to bond at a pool party when she runs into her ex and begins to flub up her performance of “Teenage Dream” in front of a judgey crowd. Cameron comes to her rescue when he jumps up with her and duets with her, calming her nerves and solidifying a genuine connection between the two of them early in the film.
There being a pool party scene seems to also be a reference to She’s All That, because early in that film we learn that Zack’s popular girlfriend, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe’s Taylor, meets the boyfriend she brutally leaves him from at a pool party as well. That new man is Matthew Lillard’s Brock Hudson, the self absorbed actor, who is really into the fact that he is on The Real World.
“Kiss Me” Being Part Of The Soundtrack
Perhaps the most iconic moment to come from She’s All That, also recently mentioned by Matthew Lillard when CinemaBlend spoke to the actor about the classic is the “Kiss Me” sequence, that has Laney Boggs getting her epic makeover as the Sixpence None The Richer song plays in the background. The song was made famous by the 1999 movie and has since become a greatest hit of a track that has rom-com fans all dreamy and head over heels.
In He’s All That, “Kiss Me” is once again included, because of course it had to be. But this time, singer Cyn covered it to modernize it for 2021.
Addison Rae Wearing A Red Dress After The Makeover
Speaking of that “Kiss Me” scene, there’s another moment from the original movie He’s All That references. During that moment, Laney Boggs slips on a red dress that really has her lighting up the room. It’s the dress she ends up debuting to a high school party that gets heads turning, including Zack’s ex Taylor – in jealousy.
In He’s All That, Addison Rae rocks a similar ruby red dress during a scene where she and Cameron first go out after she gives her “project” a haircut and style upgrade. They go to a ‘20s themed birthday party dressed to the nines and Rae’s style choice is unmistakably Laney inspired.
Cameron Using The F-Bomb When He Finds Out The Truth
One of the most cutting scenes in She’s All That is when the late Paul Walker’s Dean Sampson tells her that she has been a bet this whole time. It leads Laney to get upset and hurt, and yell out to Zack “Am I a fucking bet?” It’s a great line, especially since it’s the choice f-bomb in the PG-13 movie.
In He’s All That, the movie continues the tradition with the scene when Cameron learns that Padgett has been playing him too. He beautifully delivers the same lines, which produces just about the same effect as the original did.
Matthew Lillard Breaking Down On The Dance Floor
Aside from Rachael Leigh Cook finding a place in He’s All That, so does her original castmate Matthew Lillard. Lillard played Brock Hudson in the original and he appears in the Netflix version, also as a different character. He is the school principal, who has a couple scenes during the prom, subtly adding his dance moves to the movie.
Lillard dancing is perfect because Brock had an iconic dance sequence in She’s All That. In the original movie, his character dances to “Give It To Me Baby” as high schoolers are unimpressed with his overconfidence.
The Choreographed Dance Off During Prom
Toward the end of He’s All That, there’s a tribute to more dancing from She’s All That. Addison Rae famously gained a following thanks to her TikTok dances on the social media app and during a prom ‘dance off,’ she struts her stuff. It’s actually a quite clever reference to the 1999 classic because there’s a bit of an odd dance off in that movie too, also quite choreographed and random.
Alright now that we’ve compared She’s All That to He’s All That, I want to know which version of the concept you liked better. Is it all about the original for you, or did the 2021 Netflix movie win you over? Vote in our poll below and check out what the She's All That cast is doing now here on CinemaBlend.
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